a third wave of coronavirus infections is starting to sweep across the european union. new lockdown measures have come into force in poland and across large parts of france including around the capital paris. switzerland is among other countries extending their restrictions. european leaders have shown support for the astrazeneca jab. the french prime minister, jean castex, received the vaccine and urged the public to do the same after eu regulators found it didn't cause blood clots. here in the uk, borisjohnson also received his first astrazeneca injection. president biden has appealed for unity during a visit to atlanta, saying many asian americans now live in fear. his comments came in the wake of a killing spree at massage parlours in atlanta which left eight people dead, six of them women of asian descent.

now on bbc news, the week in parliament. hello again, and welcome to the week in parliament — a week when mps hoped the killing of sarah everard would be a watershed moment to help prevent violence against women. too many of us have clutched our keys in our fist in case we need to defend ourselves. and a lack ofjustice. i have parliamentary privilege. i can name the men who have hurt me. but millions of women in this country don't even have that. a victim of stalking shares her experience. he dropped letters through my

letterbox just so i knew that he knew where i lived. and elsewhere in westminster, a controversial figure returns to haunt the government... in spring 2020, we had a situation where the deprtment for health wasjust a smoking ruin in terms of procurement and ppe. but first, sarah everard's killing prompted widespread public anger and calls for action to do more to protect women and girls. hundreds gathered on clapham common in south london to lay flowers and pay their respects to sarah, who went missing while walking home from a friend's house. a police officer has been charged with her kidnap and murder. the clapham common vigil led to clashes with the police, with some women forcibly removed. an independent inquiry is underway. the liberal democrats say the metropolitan police commissioner, cressida dick, should resign. when the home secretary arrived in the commons to update mps, she said she understood the public anger but warned against protests while covid

restrictions are still in place. mr speaker, i would like to take a moment to acknowledge why sarah's death has upset so many. my heartache and that of others can be summed up in just five words. she was just walking home. too many of us have walked home from school or work alone, only to hear footsteps uncomfortably close behind us. too many of us have pretended to be on the phone to a friend to scare someone off. too many of us have clutched our keys in our fist in case we need to defend ourselves. and that is not ok. labour said a time of national grief must become a time of change. it cannot be right that so many women continue to fear for their safety on a daily basis, whether on the streets or at home. and whilst the event was a vigil, not a protest,

the scenes from clapham should be a red warning light to the government that ministers should not be rushing through laws cracking down on protest. the truth is, mr speaker, this government is failing to address violence against women and girls. and ministers even want to curtail their right to protest about it. if we are going to eradicate violence against women and girls we need a change of attitudes. and that is about dealing with perpetrators, changing their behaviour, but also teaching young men and boys about respect for women and about what is or is not acceptable in a relationship. the public health crisis has made restrictions necessary and the public gatherings are unadvisable. so while the police face difficult decisions every day, it is impossible to watch the footage of the events at clapham common without shock and concern that the policing appeared heavy—handed and disproportionate. the mp, whose constituency includes clapham common, said her constituents

were angry. what happened this weekend is a reminder of what happens when police try to completely bypass the views of the communities they serve. so does the home secretary recognise that the police�*s high—handed approach got the balance between public safety and the right to protest completely wrong? does the home secretary agree that the police�*s heavy—handed treatment of female protesters was wrong? mr speaker, the scenes of women being forced to the ground, restrained and arrested, simply for holding a peaceful vigil in memory of sarah everard and in condemnation of violence against women and girls, were utterly disgraceful. of course, the met commissioner cressida dick must resign. mr speaker, i believe that it is highly regrettable that members of the opposition demand that the first female commissioner of the metropolitan police resign in this situation. i'm shocked at the way in which saturday night's

vigil was policed. the situation demanded sensitivity and compassion — something which was evidently lacking. but i'm also shocked that what started as a peaceful and important vigil turned into a protest, with photographs showing acab signs — which stands for "all cops are bastards". madam deputy speaker, i'm concerned that a young woman's murder could be hijacked by those who would seek to defund the police and destabilise our society, making it even harder for women to come forward and report assaults. she's made a very, very important point that a peaceful vigil on saturday turned into some pretty ugly scenes. so we'll wait for the report. and there is no question that where there are lessons to be learned, they will be learned. priti patel. the calls for tougher action to protect women and girls came as mps began debating the police crime, sentencing it's a wide—ranging piece of legislation, covering everything from attacks on statues and memorials to sentencing rules. labour voted against it on the grounds that it doesn't do enough to stop violence against women, and it restricts people's ability to protest.

at prime minister's questions, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, said the death of sarah everard was one of those tragedies that, like the murder of stephen lawrence, demanded both justice and change. now the awful events of the last week have lifted a veil on the epidemic of violence against women and girls, this must also be a watershed moment to change how we as a society treat women and girls, and how we prevent and end sexual violence and harassment. he is right, frankly, that unless and until we have a change in our culture that acknowledges and understands that women currently do not feel they are being heard, we will not fix this problem. and that is what we must do. we need a cultural and social change in attitudes to redress the balance, mr speaker. there was — initially, at least — an unusually consensual air to the exchanges. both leaders agreed rape

prosecution statistics were shocking. and as for sentencing, keir starmer highlighted three cases where rapists received what he thought were lenientjail terms. does the prime minister agree we need urgently to look at this and to toughen sentences for rape and serious sexual violence? prime minister. mr speaker, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if there was a bill going through the house of commons which would do exactly that? as it happens, there is such a bill before the house. i think it would be a great thing if the right honourable gentleman actually had voted for it. he still has time. this bill is still before the house. he can lift his opposition. they actually voted against it, mr speaker, on a three—line whip. and i think it was crazy. keir starmer. mr speaker, he mentions the bill last night. that provided for longer maximum sentences for damaging a memorial than the sentences imposed in the three cases of rape i've referred the house to. all of those sentences

less than ten years. borisjohnson accused him of trying to misrepresent what the bill set out to do. ministers were trying to stiffen sentences, he said, and to accelerate the criminaljustice process. but until we sort out that fundamental problem, until women feel that they are being heard and their voices are being heard and their complaints are being addressed by society, we will not fix this problem. and i warmly welcome what he suggests about wanting to fix it together. and i hope that in that spirit, he can bring himself to vote for the tougher sentences that we've set out. another labour mp pursued keir starmer�*s point. i have parliamentary privilege. i can name the men who have hurt me. but millions of women in this country don't even have that. stuck between a criminal system, where only 1.4% of reported offences result in charges being laid and where too many survivors who speak out are pursued through the civil courts by their abusers to silence them, can the prime minister advise how women are meant to getjustice?

prime minister? mr speaker, i'm afraid that she's completely right. and i know that she speaks for many people, many women up and down the country. we have to address the fundamental issue of the casual everyday sexism and apathy that fails to address the concerns of women. that is the underlying issue. the prime minister. now, cast your mind back. do you remember this man? we last saw dominic cummings leaving downing street with a cardboard box under his arm. but boris johnson's former chief adviser is back in town and spoiling for a fight, telling mps about the disaster of events during the pandemic and how the department of health had been "a smoking ruin". he was supposed to be talking to the science and technology committee about the creation of a new agency, aria, to fund cutting—edge science projects. but he also gave a revealing insight into life inside government.

the prime minister came to speak to me the sunday before he became prime minister and said would i come to downing street to try and help sort out the huge brexit nightmare. i said, yes, if, first of all, you're deadly serious about actually getting it done and avoiding a second referendum. secondly, double the science budget. third, create some entity. and fourth, support me in trying to change how whitehall works and the cabinet office work, because it's a disaster. and he said "deal". where did you say deal? where were you when that was concluded? in my living room, the sunday before he became prime minister. just you and him or were there others there? just him. he said that once lockdown was over, parliament should take an urgent, hard look

at what went wrong and why. it's not coincidental that the vaccine program worked the way that it did. it's not coincidental that to do that, we had to take it out of the department of health. we had to have it authorised very directly by the prime minister and say, strip away all the normal nonsense that we can see is holding back funding... you say we took it out of the department of health. who is we? well, in the sense that number ten took it out of the department of health. so in spring 2020, you had a situation where the department for health wasjust a smoking ruin in terms of procurement and ppe and all of that. and as for his supposed £45,000 pay rise, the media had got that wrong. when i arrived, i was put on the normal pay band for my position of 140 something thousand. i said that i didn't want that. i only wanted to be paid what i was paid at vote leave. i figured that i should be paid

the same for trying to sort out the brexit mess as i've been paid for doing vote leave. so i asked for a pay cut, which is what happened in summer 2019. for some reason this has appeared in the media as if i got a pay rise after covid. but that didn't happen. when we were all rehired the day after the election, then i moved back onto the normal pay grade for my position. dominic cummings explaining how he ended his short than when he began it. now, the continuing row over the scottish government's handling of sexual harassment allegations against alex salmond has reached westminster. the conservative mp david davis revealed text messages which he says demonstrated that key officials in the scottish national party interfered improperly in the investigation against the former first minister. i have it on good authority that there exists from february 6th 2018 an exchange of messages between civil servantsjudith mackinnon

and barbara alisson suggesting the first minister's chief—of—staff is interfering in the complaints process against alex salmond. the investigating officer complained, and i quote, "this interference v bad." i assume that means very bad. if true, this suggests the chief—of—staff had knowledge of the salmond case in february, not in april, as she has claimed on oath. david davis's allegations were dismissed by nicola sturgeon at first minister's questions two days later. having david davis, a tory mp, reading in the house of commons under the protection of parliamentary privilege his old pal alex salmond's conspiracy theories about the sexual harassment allegations against him must be the very epitome of the old boys' club. that failed to convince the scottish tories. the evidence does mount up, .

as do the government's excuses, but nothing can excuse the way that the women at the heart. of this were failed, - nor the taxpayers' money that was wasted. and the one thing that's not happened is anyone in this i government taking the responsibility. that they should. the circumstances demand that somebody loses. theirjob over this. could be the permanent secretary, could be - it could be the first minister herself. i but really, shouldn't it be all of them? i first minister. well, of course, in just a few weeks' time, i will put myself before the verdict of the scottish people. that's the ultimate accountability, the accountability ruth davidson is running away from, and never let us forget that. nicola sturgeon has also announced that lockdown restrictions will start to be lifted from the beginning of april. hairdressers will open their doors from 5 april, gyms and non—essential shops to follow

a week later, with cross—border travel and self—catering holidays at the end of the month. at stormont, the first minister, arlene foster, also announced the lifting of some restrictions. northern ireland's four main churches will be able to have public worship for easter, opening their pews from good friday, 2 april. now, at westminster, labour in opposition have been pushing for a timetable for a public inquiry into the pandemic, something the conservative government here has been resisting. funnily enough, in wales, the conservatives in opposition want a public inquiry as soon as possible. labour, in power, say not yet. confused? this is what happened during the first minister's questions in the virtual senedd. i want to see a public inquiry as soon as possible make progress and rather than lead in the wider uk public inquiry, have a wales—specific public inquiry. could you clarify your remarks so that we can understand exactly when you believe that a public inquiry should start, and that you agree that it

should be a standalone welsh public inquiry, looking at the measures the welsh government have control over, rather than this submerged into a wider uk inquiry? well, i believe that an inquiry will be a necessary and important part of the way that we learn the lessons of the extraordinary 12 months that we have lived through. i did not say yesterday that i thought it should wait until coronavirus was over. i said i thought it should wait until we are all confident that coronavirus is in the rearview mirror. and he thought it should be a uk—wide rather than welsh inquiry. there's been mixed news on the vaccine front across the uk. the good news is that more of us have had the jab. the bad news, that five million doses of the oxford—astrazeneca jab produced in india have been held up by a month. the health secretary said all adults would still get their first dose by the end ofjuly.

but he told mps that vaccine supplies went up and down. in the last week, we've had a batch of 1.7 million doses delayed because of the need to retest its stability. events like this are to be expected in a manufacturing endeavor of this complexity, and this shows the rigour of our safety checks. many key workers under the age of 50 like teachers and police officers who, through the nature of their work, are not at home — they are going out, they are more exposed to risk — had been hoping that vaccination for them was not far away. so we understand why they will have while there will be delays in supply, of course we understand that, but this is not fantastic news. jonathan ashworth. now, what does global britain look like after brexit? dominic cummings�* old boss tried to tell us, but his blueprint for an integrated foreign defence and security policy prompted anger from mps

over the uk's links with china and cuts to overseas aid. the prime minister said the aim of the most comprehensive review since the cold war was to make the uk stronger, safer and more prosperous. that may result in a bigger stockpile of nuclear weapons, as well as a new counter—terrorism operation centre. the truth is that even if we wished it, and of course i we don't, the uk could never turn inwards or be content i with the cramped horizonsl of a regional foreign policy. for us, there are no faraway countries of which we know little. global britain is not a - reflection of old obligations, still less a vainglorious i gesture, but a necessity for the safety and prosperity of the british people - in the decades ahead. the labour leader said borisjohnson left some could lose 10,000 troops. prime minister, will there be further cuts to the strength of our army and our armed forces? the british army is already

6,000 below the minimum level set out in the last review. it's been cut every year for the last decade. the snp weren't impressed either. mr speaker, today's statement is one more insight intojust how hollow the brand of global britain actually is, because the prime minister's rhetoric always fails to come close to reality. several mps highlighted plans to cut the share of national income spent on overseas development. reneging on the commitment to retain .7% ofgni_ on development spendingj is a shortsighted mistake, and the prime minister's i promise that it will be just temporary isn't good enough. after all, he said he wouldn't cut it in his own party's manifesto. _ weasel words on aid won't wash. some conservatives were unhappy about the prospect of deeper links with china. doesn't that, unfortunately, demonstrate that the grasping naivety of the cameron—0sborne years still lingers on in some

departments of state? there is a balance to be struck because after all, we have a strong trading relationship with china worth about £81 billion. china is the second largest economy in the world and a fact of our lives, and i think we must accept that fact in a clear—eyed way. and he said the uk continued to call out china for what was happening to the uighurs in xinjiang. time now for a brief look at what else has been going on around westminster. matt hancock has defended the government's decision to recommend a pay rise of 1% for most nhs workers in england. appearing before mps on the health committee, the health secretary was challenged by his predecessor. how did your department come to recommend just 1%, given the incredible pressures staff had been under during the pandemic? the nhs was carved out of the pay freeze that's been applied due to the enormous

pressure on the public finances, and it's been applied to everybody else in the public sector. and we put in place evidence reflecting what is affordable, and we, of course, will study what the pay review body says. the widow of the former home secretary, leon brittan, told mps on the home affairs committee that it was extraordinary that a fantasist�*s claims of a lady brittan said that she hadn't heard the precise details about the false claims against her husband ——a fantasist�*s claims of a vip paedophile ring were ever believed. lady brittan said that she hadn't heard the precise details about the false claims against her husband until after his death in 2015. it was only later when i realised that the presumption of innocence had not been given to these men.

and then also, i realised reading the report that all sorts of things that had happened which perhaps shouldn't have happened if the policing had been a little bit less... put it this way, in favour of the person who was doing the complaining. the government suffered more defeats in the house of lords over its domestic abuse bill. in one, peers backed proposals for tougher supervision and monitoring of serial domestic abusers and stalkers. a lib dem peer shared her own experience at the hands of a stalker. he dropped letters through my letterbox just so i knew that he knew where i lived. he phoned me very late at night and then didn't talk. publicly, i was very angry and determined that he would be caught. but privately, ifelt constantly sick and nervous most of the time and became tearful and anxious about having to go out campaigning in the evening in winter months, always watching anywhere i went. ministers avoided defeat on a move to make misogyny a hate crime by offering a concession. the government's to ask police

forces in england and wales to record violent crimes which a victim believes is based on their sex, ahead of the outcome of a review by the law commission. on an experimental basis, we will ask police forces to record and identify any crimes of violence against the person, including stalking and harassment and sexual offences, where the victim perceives it to have been motivated by a hostility based on their sex, which, as i have said, can then inform longer term decisions. as children try to settle back into the school routine, mps on the education committee looked at the impact of the covid pandemic on their well—being, and the government's youth mental health ambassador warned against some of the language being used by politicians. dr alex george is an a&e doctor, and perhaps rather better known as a former contestant on the tv reality show love island. the phrases and using words like "lost generation" and "catch up" is, i think,

hugely potentially damaging to young people. they do listen, they see the media, they see social media, and ijust wonder where that leaves young people to feel like they're left or "what if i don't catch up? "what am i? " and i've actually had that echoed in messages across social media to myself, a lot of concern from young people saying, you know, "am i part of this lost generation? what does that mean for our future?" so i think we need to be very, very careful, and something i've echoed to number ten and around some of the things that have gone out that we must steer away from that language. dr alex george. now, celebrations for st patrick's day were a little muted given the lockdown, but that didn't stop mps remembering the occasion, even risking the wrath of the speaker to do so. she speaks welsh. asylum—seekers will. .. can i say to the honourable lady, no, let'sjust stop. i don't mind the beginning, but to now start extending

the sentence in welsh does go against the rules of the house. the first was in irish, the second was in welsh and it was wishing everybody a happy... can ijust say i have no arguments in it whatsoever. but unfortunately, the house make the rules. i'm only here to ensure the rules are kept. thank you. lizz saville roberts having the last word in several languages, including the language of heaven. that was the week in parliament. thank you for watching. don't forget tojoin alicia mccarthy on bbc parliament at 11 o'clock on monday evening for the latest from the commons and the lords. but from me, david cornock... he speaks welsh.

hello there. for most of us, the weekend promises a fair amount of dry weather, the amount of cloud will vary a bit from place to place, and there will be somejumps around in temperatures as well, as we will see in a moment. this was the satellite picture then from friday, showing we had some decent sunshine, particularly across parts of scotland. that was how the sunshine looked in the highlands. not far away from that, in sterlingshire, we have the highest temperature in the uk, up to 17 celsius, very mild for the time of year. but it wasn't like that everywhere — north—east england had a really chilly day on friday, just six celsius. a big jump upwards in temperatures, though, on the way later today. why the change? well, yesterday, we had the winds coming in from the north—east. it's all down to the wind direction, you see. these north—easterly winds brought those low temperature to eastern england because they were travelling over these really cold seas. the temperature in the water just 6 degrees at the moment. but the winds today are changing direction in a big way.

they are coming in from a north—westerly direction, hence that big jump upwards in temperatures widely across eastern areas of england. now, here's the weather picture over the next few hours. we've got cloud across england and wales, a few gaps in the cloud for scotland, slowly filtering into parts of northern england. and on account of the cloudy skies, it's not cold, temperatures around 6—7 celsius. 0n into saturday then, this weather front is going to go nowhere fast, staying across central england and wales all day. another cold front will push into the far north of the uk, bringing rain to northern scotland late in the day. could be an odd patch of drizzle as well from that slow—moving front across england and wales. that's why it's going to stay cloudy here, but we'll see some sunshine. central and southern scotland, and particularly north—east england, that's where the best of the sunshine is going to be, and it's going to be a much warmer day across north—east england. in the warmest spots, temperatures reach 17 celsius. but those north—westerly winds bringing some cooler weather into north—west england and north wales as well. sunday, while a cold front will have moved across most

of the uk bringing cloudy weather across england wales again, what that cold front is going to do, well, it's going to introduce cooler and fresher air. so sunday, temperature—wise, temperatures not quite as high, still, though, managing to reach double figures for most of us. what about next week? well, of the area of high—pressure bringing the settled weather is going to continue to influence our weather, but it will probably gradually turn a little more unsettled across the north—west.

this is bbc news. i'm mark lobel. our top stories: europe braces for a third wave of coronavirus infections with fresh lockdowns in france and poland. the french prime minister gets the astrazeneca vaccine and urges others to do the same, as the eu resumes use of the jab. president biden visits atlanta after the murder of eight people this week. he calls for unity and an end to violence against asian americans. they've been attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed. they've been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed. tanzania swears in their first female president after the death ofjohn magufuli on wednesday.